Feminine skills?

Norms, knowledge and values in the craft of seamstresses

Abstract

There have been many feminist achievements in recent years – which have taken place in different sectors, including the world of work – but even today, women seek a reorganization of the roles until now assigned to them in society. Within this reality, the research proposes to answer the question: to what extent the knowledge constituted by women in the scope of reproductive work, is mobilized in productive work relations, pointing out aspects of the dynamics between them, through the analysis of the competences evidenced in work situations. The theoretical orientation that based the reflections and analyzes presented here has two main axes, the ergological approach to work and the perspective of social relations of sex. Positioning oneself in a research through the ergological approach meant understanding work as a mix of technical knowledge with human action, in a relationship full of singularities in the face of the demands of the work world. On the other hand, materialist and feminist sociology, based on the sexual division of labor and social relations of sex, have brought abundant contributions to the analysis of work in its collective and individual dimension, and the passage from the individual to the collective has meanings according to sex/ gender. The methodology used was based on the historical materialist method, in terms of techniques and tools used in the research, initially procedures and techniques related to exploratory research were carried out, including literature review and preliminary study. The preliminary study was carried out in a sewing/cutting course and through observation and interview with a seamstress at work. Based on this preliminary approach to the object of study, categorizations of analysis were defined, a case study was carried out with two seamstresses with the objective of monitoring and observing the work closely, to know how each individual, the only one who carries his stories, performs the activity. Women who worked as seamstresses at home were chosen, data were collected through observation and semi-structured interview. The research findings showed that the seamstress trade is inscribed in the categorization arranged in the sexual division of labor and social sex relations, reaching other layers of analysis synthesized in the concept of consubstantiality that deals with the inseparability between gender and class and race. As for acting in competence, it was found that the seamstress takes a stand in the face of the infidelities of the environment and discrepancies of existing norms, she makes use of herself through the debates of norms with her knowledge and values, that is, from the moment that her story infiltrates the work situation she carries out the activity.